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Austin Adventure Part 2

On Sunday me and the birthday girl hit the road for San Antonio. Katrina booked us a hotel on the famous San Antonio Riverwalk, which I didn’t know existed until this trip. We checked into our room in the mid afternoon and decided to check out the riverwalk. I had no idea what to expect, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised when we walked out of the hotel.It was gorgeous. The weather was perfect, the buildings were old and the people out there were…..trashy. There was this haggard looking woman stumbling around hollering nonsense and it was quite the welcome. We later found her hanging out, making new friends at Coyote Ugly. We kept walking until we found signs to the Alamo. Did you know the Alamo is right smack dab in the middle of the city?We didn’t go in because the line was insane. We walked through the little museum where we saw a lock of Davey Crockett’s hair. And of course we hit the gift shop where I got the Max a (fake) coonskin hat.

After a while we went back to the hotel for their free little happy hour deal. We got ourselves some ball park grade snacks (runny nacho cheese FTW!) as well as some fruity drinks. And the real fun began.We had grand plans of taking a dip in the rooftop pool at some point but we forgot. Once we drank away our free drinks we hit the riverwalk for a real meal. Of course it’s like 7:00 at this point and every single restaurant, including the one that serves the margaritas bigger than your head that I really wanted to go to, had an insane wait time. We walked far enough down to get a spot at The Original Mexican Restaurant. Yes, that’s what it was called. I, for the third night in a row, ordered enchiladas, because now it’s a challenge to see who has the best enchiladas. These were by far the absolute worst. Not only did they look like dog vomit they tasted somewhat like it I’m sure, even though I’ve never tasted dog vomit and I have no plans to do so. The food wasn’t great but the drinks? Those were great. We each ordered a flavored margarita with an extra shot of tequila. After I finished mine I ordered a Texas Tea. Just think Long Island but more alcohol, if that’s possible.When we asked for our second drinks the waitress was less than pleased to say the least, I don’t know why. She was probably hating life cause she had to work at that awful place. Once we managed to choke down the booze we stumbled back towards the hotel, for no good reason, giggling and being those girls. You know the ones. The ones where you look at them and you roll your eyes. We were also the girls that took a whole bunch of selfies in the elevator.We were also the girls who drunk dialed our significant others at the same time and couldn’t control our giggling. It was a fabulous evening. And what’s more great? WE woke up with no hangovers! Which is a good thing because it was Katrina’s birthday!

We checked out of the hotel and made our way to Sea World. We were both so friggin excited. We got there right as the gates were opening and immediately headed towards the Shamu Theatre where the Shamu Show was going to be.We consciously sat in the splash zone. We knew what to expect. But for the first 3/4 of the show we were spared. That is until the whale swam up to our little window dove down and lifted it’s tale and gave us the coldest, salt watery-ist shower ever. We were soaked. And it was totally worth it. That show was awesome. Those whales were amazing, and I haven’t felt that giddy since we went to Disney World in 2010. We walked around the park and Katrina threatened to get me on one of the roller coasters, which I got dizzy just looking at. I got a Shamu shaped pretzel and ate it while we watched the Cirque Du Soleil type dolphin and beluga whale show. There were acrobats and synchronized swimmers and leaping dolphins and one lone beluga whale bobbing up and down. Because they can’t do much else, you know? But I still love them. The beluga whales became my favorite when Rob and I went to the aquarium in Vancouver B.C. They’re always smiling! And blowing bubbles! Just precious.

Here’s my complaint about Sea World. Everything is a show. You can’t go look at the orcas or belugas, you can only see them in a show. Don’t they understand I want to press my nose against the glass and share a moment with a whale? Another complaint: Don’t eat the turkey wrap or pickles. Katrina got a serious case of food poisoning as well as a bacterial infection (possibly Ecoli) that landed her in the ER and out of work for a week. She’s better now, but not a great start to her 29th year.

Oh, and did I mention that we were literally the only childless adults there? Because we were.

After tackling Sea World we made our way back to Austin where we took Robo, Katrina and Ian’s precious pit pup, out to the park where he was in doggy heaven.I had such a great time there. I can see why Katrina picked Austin. It reminded me of Portland with all the hip-ness of the city and it also reminded me of living in Louisiana with all the cute mid-century brick houses. Austin is great, but Portland is better. And Portland is where Katrina belongs. Please come home Katrina!